Open source developers embrace the Cloud and Google app

28 percent of developers plan to use Google’s App Engine, while 15 percent plan to use Amazon’s services

SANTA CRUZ, USA: Forty percent of developers working on Open Source projects intend to provide their applications as web services offerings using Cloud providers, according to the latest Evans Data Open Source Development survey.

Of those who plan to use the cloud, the largest plurality, 28 percent, plan to use Google's App Engine, while 15 percent plan to use Amazon's services. Cloud services by other vendors, such as Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce are not nearly as popular.

"As costs increase for power, staff and data center resources, more businesses are being attracted to the latest promise: moving more of the company's infrastructure and applications into a third-party provided cloud," stated John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data Corp. "Many companies are using this model to not only reduce infrastructure costs but simultaneously increase their computational capabilities."

Other highlights of this survey of over 360 developers involved with open source development and conducted in November 2008 include:

* Just over half (52 percent) use Linux in a virtualized environment.

* MySQL is still the open source database of choice with over half of developers using it in at least some of their projects. Two thirds use a SQL database, either open source or commercial, while only 10 percent use a relational database management system.

* One in five use the Flex programming language at least some of the time

As for other channels, more open source apps are distributed through OSS portals (30 percent) than any other way, but those who distribute their apps through mobile app stores are the most likely to be making money